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4.638 bytes |
Service Hints & Tips |
Document ID: MCGN-3LRH95 |
Servers - Adaptec general hardware troubleshooting procedure
Applicable to: World-Wide
SCSI devices which have a hardware problem may not show up during the SCSI scan or may show up intermittently. A SCSI scan of all devices will occur after the "Hit Ctrl + A for SCSI Select" message appears.
1. Check that all devices on all chains appear in the SCSI scan.
2. Remember that the SCSI scan will not occur if BIOS is disabled.
3. If BIOS is disabled, or the message "BIOS not installed" has been appearing on bootup, Hit Ctrl + A when prompted and enter SCSI Select. The "SCSI Disk Utilities" selection will perform a SCSI scan. Inspect for attached devices there.
4. If devices do not appear in the SCSI scan, there is a hardware problem:
If hard drives are attached to the Adaptec controller, BIOS must be enabled. To enable BIOS:
1. Hit Ctrl + A for SCSI Select on boot when prompted.
2. Select "Configure / View Host Adapter Settings".
3. Select "Advanced Configuration Options".
4. Select the Host Adapter BIOS and toggle to "Enabled".
If the Adaptec controller is not the boot controller and only non booting ASPI devices, such as Tape Drives or CD ROMs are present, the BIOS must be disabled. Follow the steps in the previous section to locate the BIOS setting in SCSI Select and set it to disabled.
Order of priority must be followed on the Adaptec chain for attaching SCSI ID's.
1. Zero is the boot device for Adaptec controllers. Zero is the highest priority, ID 6 the lowest.
2. Some Controller BIOS's have a Reverse BIOS Scan option. If enabled, this reverses the priority with ID 6 as the boot device. (This setting appears under Advanced Configuration on newer cards. The default position is disabled.)
3. Hard drives must have a higher priority than any other SCSI device. Theoretically, the most used devices should have higher priority in the SCSI chain. Generally, hard drives come first, then tape drives and CD ROMs. Default ID settings for tapes and CD ROMs are often 3 or 4. They should be set to 5 or 6 on the Adaptec controller to make room for future hard drive expansion.
4. Note that Microchannel controllers use ID 6 as the boot device and utilize a reverse priority order when compared to an Adaptec Controller. For this reason, people who are familiar with older machines often set the priority incorrectly.
Never assume that just because drives often come with default settings from the factory that those settings are in place on a particular unit. Often drives are not in default positions. Always check jumper settings.
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Hint Category |
SCSI | |
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Date Created |
09-09-97 | |
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Last Updated |
01-12-98 | |
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Revision Date |
18-11-99 | |
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Brand |
IBM PC Server | |
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Product Family |
Servers | |
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Machine Type |
Various | |
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Model |
Various | |
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TypeModel |
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